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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381679">Elements</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Hidden_Author'>Hidden_Author (orphan_account)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Song of Ice and Fire &amp; Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bending (Avatar), Drabble Collection, Gen, This isn't a crossover but draws inspiration from A:tla, introspective</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:47:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381679</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Hidden_Author</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bending is the birthright of every child of Westeros.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Water - Sansa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hi! I think that things should be made clear in the story, but this is meant to be a series of drabbles about bending in Westeros. There will be one chapter for each element, focusing on a different person in the series who bends that element. It'll probably be mostly set in the first and second books. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sansa’s skills are quite unusual for a daughter of the north. But she doesn’t mind. Mother teaches her the art of healing, of using water to fix people’s ills. It’s time that she gets to spend only with Mother. No one else in their family bends water, so no one else is able to interrupt. Father had offered to hire a proper tutor from the south, but Mother insisted that she would train Sansa. So she learns to heal, as any female waterbender would in the south, and she learns how to dance with the water, how to curl it around her and feel it flowing.</p><p>Bending is the birthright of every child of Westeros, but the type of bending is dependant on multiple factors. One can only bend an element that one’s parents bends, but the location that one grows up and one’s personality play a part, as well. Most children will bend the element of their region, but there are exceptions, and Sansa is one of them. Her waterbending is a gift from Mother, a gift from the Seven. And if Robb is already learning how to use his bending to fight, if Arya leaves a path of frost wherever she goes, that is well and good. Sansa is not jealous of her sibling’s control of ice and snow.</p><p>When her brothers find the direwolf and her pups Sansa is afraid that none of the pups will choose her, that she lacks the birthright that would let her connect with a direwolf. But Lady chooses Sansa and Sansa chooses Lady. Lady is polite and follows the rules and does not make a mess, and sometimes Sansa imagines that Lady understands what Sansa is saying. It is not until the night of the full moon that Sansa discovers the full extent of her connection to Lady. As a waterbender, Sansa is always aware of the snow and ice around her, aware of how close yet how distant it is from her own element. That night, she is keenly aware of a similar pull, and it scares her to identify it as Lady’s blood. It practically sings out to her, and it is instinct, pure and simple, that allows her to take control of Lady’s body from the outside. She knows, <em>she knows</em>, that Lady does not mind this, yet she also knows how wrong it is. Old Nan told them stories of bloodbenders, but she always told the stories in the same breath as the Others, the White Walkers. Sansa had never believed bloodbenders to be real.</p><p>That she has this power frightens her. She decides not to tell.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Fire - Jon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jon knows the whispers that follow him. He knows that his position brings shame to Lady Stark, knows that he’s just a bastard with no real place in the family. But his bending makes it worse. Not only is it evidently clear that his mother is from Dorne, but his bending also shows that he is not a true Northman, that his deepest nature and personality do not belong in Winterfell. Sansa, his half-sister, is easier for others to explain away - Lady Stark raised her, shaped her personality; Winterfell is not so far from Riverrun; the elements of snow and water are practically sisters. But fire? Fire is the opposite of water and ice. Fire is for those who are impatient and rash, for those who do not know their place. He is taught how to fight with his fire, but never around others, never somewhere where his fire could melt snow.</p><p>He remembers being confused when he first bent fire. Someone raised in the North, with only the influence of Northmen around him, should have bent ice. But one morning, he had gotten into a fight with Robb, something stupid and insignificant, and flames had lept up from his hands, nearly burning Robb. It was only his Lord Father’s quick actions that saved Robb from harm.</p><p>When Benjen comes down, Jon jumps at his chance to join the Night’s Watch. There, they are used to every type of bending. There, every skill is used and honed to protect the wall. He knows that Robb and Arya will miss him, but it’s for the best, he decides, to take the black.</p><p>He does not know why Ghost stays with him, why Ghost would attach himself to a firebender, but he is grateful for the company and companionship at the wall. It is a true marvel of icebending. Jon is sure that he could hold fire to it for days and barely make a dent.</p><p>His bending is appreciated at the wall. It is so cold that many nights, the new recruits stay close to him simply to enjoy the warmth that he radiates. He becomes friends with Samwell, an earthbender who can hardly shift a rock. But his mind is sharp and he is loyal, and Jon protects him from those who try to harm him.</p><p>The maester is also a firebender, but not one from Dorne. Jon knows that the Targaryens also bend fire but it is something completely different to meet one himself. It disquiets him, but he knows there’s no reason to suspect that any of his blood is Targaryen. There are many Dornish women out there. Which Targaryen would Ned Stark have slept with during a war to take down their dynasty? The notion is ridiculous.</p><p><br/>
Still, it eats at the back of his mind.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ice - Arya</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>King’s Landing is nothing like Arya thought it would be. She’s never felt so fundamentally cut off from her element and it makes her snippier than she usually would be with Sansa, although that’s not saying much. But Father notices, of course, he understands how Arya feels because he feels the lack of connection himself. While Sansa shows off her healing and dancing to the ladies of the court, Arya is stuck and miserable. So father hires Syrio for her. Syrio comes from a land far away where hardly anyone can bend, only those with Westerosi blood. So he teaches her how to fight without her element, how to rely less on that which is around her and rely more on herself. She learns to move silently and to catch cats and to fight with Needle. Back home, she was only taught how to sculpt fine structures out of ice and she never enjoyed it, but here, with Syrio, it doesn’t seem to matter that she was never taught to fight with her element. In fact, it suddenly seems like a liability, to rely on ice and snow; what if you have to fight in the south? She asks Father how he fought in Robert’s Rebellion if he didn’t have any ice, but Father laughs and answers that he always has Ice, his greatsword, and besides all Northerners are taught to wield swords; it is simple preference that leads to more of them using snow when they have the chance.</p><p>It amuses her that Syrio calls his style of sword fighting “water dancing.” She thinks of Sansa’s grace and agility with her Southron element and tries not to see the irony. But no matter its name, she wants to learn.</p><p>One day, Syrio’s lessons will come in handy. One day, Arya will become No One, and No One does not bend in the Westerosi fashion. In Braavos, she will rely on the practice she had in King’s Landing to separate herself from her element, to rely on no external tool. She will gain a thousand faces and will learn how to kill.</p><p>But none of that has happened yet, and Arya happily spends her days practicing with her swords. She misses Nymeria, but cannot imagine her stuck in King’s Landing, and knows that her direwolf is safe. Arya only hopes that they will one day be reunited. She suffers through “audiences” with Myrcella, where Sansa is as perfect as always and Arya tries not to die of boredom. But there is ice in her veins and she is a Stark. She will survive King’s Landing’s stifling nature and will return to Winterfell knowing how to wield a sword.</p><p>Technically, she is correct, although she doesn’t know how difficult it will be to survive King’s Landing nor how long it will take her to return home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Lightning - Gendry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lightning jumps from his fingers as easily as air enters his lungs. He does not think about it, tries to avoid it, actually, because the forge is hot enough without his bending. But sometimes it just happens. Most of the workers in the forge are earthbenders, but there are some metalbenders and a firebender who came from Dorne and barely talks. He is the only lightningbender.</p><p>Before King Robert, Gendry knows, lightning was looked down on. Every element had its usefulness in society, every element could contribute in some positive manner. All except lightning. It was seen as dangerous and uncontrollable, sparks dancing between the fingers of Stormland natives in a manner that scared other elements. Only fire and lightning could be conjured from nothing, and fire cooked food and warmed people and give light. Lightning could only destroy. Now that a lightningbender is King of Westeros, no one openly says anything against him. But he is still wary, still on edge. </p><p>The culture of the Crownlands is different than the rest of Westeros. There is no element tied to these lands. Only the elements of ones parents and ones disposition could influence ones own element. So Gendry isn’t an anomaly in King’s Landing. Every type of bender is represented there. He doesn’t know his father, but knows that he must be from the Stormlands. His mother was an earthbender. </p><p>When the King’s own Hand comes to their forge, Gendry is nervous. The noble asks a few questions about the previous Hand’s visit, about his parents, and Gendry answers honestly, but he can tell that the man is looking at the lightning dancing between his fingers. Gendry never would have thought that the King’s Hand would be prejudiced against lightningbenders, but the noble doesn’t seem angry or disgusted, just lost in thought. Gendry hopes that he passed whatever test the Hand devised - being noticed by a noble never means anything good. And Gendry had somehow caught the notice of the previous Hand as well.</p><p>He bends his head over his next work and tries not to think about the Hand too much. There are very few icebenders in King’s Landing, so Gendry was unprepared for the chill that the noble left behind him, seemingly unaware of it. But the Hand’s gaze lingers in the back of his mind. There’s something wrong, he can tell, and hopes that whatever it is, the Hand handles it quickly and never sees fit to come find Gendry again.</p><p><br/>He’s just glad that the Hand didn’t insist on buying the helmet.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Gold - Myrcella</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her mother is always dripping with gold and silver. This is not, as some whisper, due to vanity. Myrcella knows that her mother is vain, but that is not the reason. Those from the Westerlands, benders of precious metal, wear as much gold and silver as possible. No one likes to be separated from their element, and Lannisters are no exception. Air and earth are never in short supply, and fire and lightning can be conjured. But metals are naturally buried deep underground, so any metalbender who can afford it wears at least a small piece of jewelry.</p><p>Myrcella has been taught the fine craft of shaping gold and silver into bracelets and necklaces. Joffrey knows how to take the jewelry he wears and bend it into weapons during combat, small sharp daggers of gold flying through the air. Tommen is too young to yet be a bender, but Myrcella is sure that he will be a metalbender too. Her mother talks loudly about how similar Joffrey is to her, how much of his personality comes from his grandfather Tywin. But Myrcella knows better. Joffrey has always looked up to Robert, idolized him, even before his seventh birthday. By all the known laws of inheritance, Joffrey should be a lightningbender. But he is not.</p><p>Has no one realized? Has no one figured it out? Myrcella is young but she is not naive. Others explain that the Crownlands have always been odd when it comes to inheritance, that the unnatural Targaryans were rejected by the land itself, that there was never a separate element for the Crownlands so anything could happen. But Myrcella knows.</p><p>Truthfully, she thanks the Seven every day that Joffrey did not inherit lightning. Joffrey is well trained with metals but if he had lightning Myrcella shudders to imagine what he might be like, what he might do to her, and Tommen. Her brother is cruel and sadistic and lightning is the element of danger.</p><p>When Robert dies and Joffrey takes the throne, Myrcella fears for the kingdom. When Joffrey removes Eddard Stark’s head from his shoulders, Myrcella realizes that her suspicions are correct. She is a bastard and a child of incest. And her brother has turned the kingdom to war.</p><p>So she copies her mother. She drapes herself with the finest gold and silver. Those who see her think her frivolous and vain, concerned with appearance when there’s a war going on. But Myrcella is neither of those things. She is prepared to defend herself and defend Tommen to her dying breath. In dark corners, she bends her bracelets into daggers and prays.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Air - Petyr</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Air is meant to be the element of freedom. The people of the Vale are not natural warriors - air deflects, air evades, air does not fight - and use the natural defenses of the surrounding mountains to protect themselves. But Petyr is not satisfied with that. Petyr wants more than that. Petyr wants control and respect and Catelyn Tully.</p><p>Airbenders are known to be detached, rational, impartial. It’s part of what makes him a good Master of Coin, part of what made Jon Arryn a good Hand. But there’s another aspect to air, often overlooked, often forgotten: air has no boundaries. Air cannot be controlled. Air dances around, sowing chaos and confusion and disappears without a trace. Air is never caught.</p><p>So he allows Lysa Tully to believe she is in love with him, convinces her to kill her husband and write to her sister, implicating the Lannisters. How convenient that Bran Stark falls from a tower and nearly dies - he twists the truth and convinces Catelyn that the Lannisters are behind that too. He plans circles around Ned Stark, drawing him in, earning his trust, then betraying him. After all, the instability left in the wake of Stark’s beheading is exactly the kind of environment that Petyr thrives in.</p><p>But he tries to defend Sansa. He tries to protect her from the Lannisters. She looks so much like her mother, so much like Catelyn, that it isn’t even a question for him. She will dye her hair darker and pretend to be his bastard daughter, one day in the future, and even that will not stop him from thinking these thoughts.</p><p>Cersei believes that she has power, that her gold and her title and her father will keep her safe. But Petyr knows better. Petyr knows the truth, and from the knowledge, he derives power. He always stays one step ahead of those around him, one plan further than those who would see him fall. He plants his spies all around the city, keeping tabs on all the nobles and any important goings-on.</p><p>People will always underestimate him: an airbender with practically no family history, who made his own way and built up his own power. People trust him, relying on the old adage that airbenders are detached from the world, that no airbender can be bought or bribed. And he’s happy to use people’s misconceptions to his own advantage. Even when he warns Ned Stark not to trust him, the fool does; is it any wonder that few suspect him?</p><p>Air is meant to be the element of freedom, but to Petyr, freedom is chaos. Chaos is a ladder. And Petyr can fly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Ocean - Theon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The mainlanders are arrogant. They speak of seven types of bending, reflective of the Seven. They say that the Iron Islands are home to waterbenders, just as the Riverlands are. When Theon was brought to Winterfell, Lord Stark offered to hire a waterbending master to teach him how to fight with his element. They don’t know. They don’t understand.</p><p>Ironborn do not worship the Seven. They worship the Drowned God, Master of the Ocean. And their bending reflects their beliefs: Ironborn can control the open seas, can shape the tides, can redirect the waves as they crash against the islands. They are not waterbenders. They bend the Ocean.</p><p>Theon cannot bend freshwater, nor can he bend water into which salt was added. In Winterfell, he is utterly cut off from his element, removed from the Ocean. He hates it, hates how vulnerable it makes him feel. So he becomes cruel to protect himself. He insults others before they can insult him. He learns the bow and becomes good at archery because he cannot practice with his element.</p><p>But Theon is Ironborn, and will not let the Greenlanders take that from him. He doesn’t just want to return to the Ocean. He wants to take from the Starks, just as they took from him; he wants to deprive them of their lifeblood just as he was deprived of his. He doesn’t let himself think of the small kindnesses and courtesies that he is shown by Lord Stark. The man could cut his head off at the slightest hint of rebellion from Balon. Theon does not let himself forget.</p><p>When he returns to the Iron Islands, he feels as if he can breathe again, as if an awful weight has been lifted from his chest. But Balon looks at him and says, “your time with the wolves has made you weak.” And Theon knows that he is right. Knows that his bending is shamefully weak after being away from the Ocean for so long. Knows that he has to prove himself to his father, that even if he cannot control the Ocean with as much strength or grace as Asha can, he can still be useful. He can still be helpful. He can still fight. He is still Ironborn.</p><p>He manages to take Winterfell, despite it being surrounded by snow and the Ocean being miles and miles away. Bran and Rickon evade him, escape, but he has taken Winterfell, has taken their home and sanctuary, just as the Starks took him from the Ocean all those years ago.</p><p>His chest feels as hollow as it always has, and too late does he realize that taking the Stark’s home does not bring his any closer.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Earth - Margaery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Margaery knows what image she is meant to portray. Her entire life has been spent crafting her image, making people believe that she is one thing when she is another. Her family has plans for her: they say she looks like Lyanna Stark, the king’s lost love. She will use that, usurp the Lannisters and become his queen. When he dies hunting, she is told that she will marry Renly Baratheon, that she will become queen through him. And who could ask for a better queen? Highgarden is wealthy and has many people ready to fight for them. Earthbenders are known to be solid and loyal. Margaery is young and beautiful.</p><p>No one ever asked if she wanted to marry the king, but no one had to. Ambition is something that the Tyrells have in spades. Her grandmother teaches her how to use her beauty to get what she wants, how to use her words to manipulate those around her.</p><p>Her bending is as flawless as her youth. She does not learn the brutish bending of men chucking rocks at each other, but she learns how to create beautiful things out of dirt, how to mold clay into something that she can use. She hones her mind as much as she hones her earthbending. She is perfect.</p><p>Her husband, it turns out, cares not for her kind of perfection. Just as well, for he is killed and her family changes tune, pledging loyalty to the Lannisters and arranging a match between her and Joffrey. She learns to remake herself into what Joffrey will want. In King’s Landing, she meets Sansa Stark, a waterbender from the north. Margaery realizes that for all her wealth and power and perfection, for all that the smallfolk love her, she does not have a single friend who isn’t obligated to be by her side due to familial connection. She wants to recreate herself as someone worthy of the title “friend.” And it doesn’t hurt that Sansa is able to provide information about her intended. She makes plans for Sansa - beneficial for house Tyrell, yes, but also a way to free her from Lannister influence.</p><p>It doesn’t work. She is married to the queen’s younger brother and is then framed for the murder of Margaery’s husband. Sansa disappears and Margaery does not hear from her again. She allows herself to feel sad, to feel disappointed but does not allow herself to feel that way for long. After all, when a clay pot cracks it needs to be fixed, needs to be remade. So she remakes herself once again, this time as the bride of Tommen Baratheon, first of his name.</p><p>She does not allow herself to wonder how many times a pot can be remade before it is no longer the same pot it once was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'd love to hear what you think!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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